HELP I have not lost a single pound since Jan. 1 What gives?

[Teacher4Peace]

:help

I think I am following ANA to the letter; Dr. Atkins' book has become my bible. I gave up the caffeine, sodas and bars (occassionally I take one but pretty much given them up).

I eat from 6-10 grams of carbs daily (if I do 20 I don't seem to loose at all).

I have recently begun exercise (yeah I know...working on it); I am up to 6 glasses H2o daily (working on 8-10 but in my pre-atkins days it was 1/2 a glass!)

In January 2005 I weighed 209.2; on April 1, 2005 (3 months later) I weighed 208.4
So it took three months to loose less than one pound!

What gives? I can not keep motivating myself if ANA is not going to work! I love ANA because I think for the first time in 30 years there may be light at the end of the tunnel--but my light is dimming!

Please HELP!

SAD SAD SAD She She urplequ: :sadblinky

[RunAwayMichelle]

You just have to drink the water and do the exercise. You are not doing Atkins if you don't. I know that if I stop my water and exercise I also stop my weight loss.

Also check your measurements. I lose way more inches then I do pounds. Some days my inches lost is all the keeps me going.

[Kent]

I agree with RunawayMichele -- check your measurements. You may be losing inches right and left, and the scale only show half the story. You didn't mention your exercise plan perhaps now it is ramp it up a bit. What might have made you lose early has plateaued your body. It's not a bad thing. It just shows your body is getting healthier and more capable.

[Isabeau]

I agree with what has been said too. Are you using a tool like fitday to keep an eye on what you're eating, and looking at the percentages of fat/protein/carbs (we strive for 65% fat, 30% proteing and 5% carbs on induction)?

[anotherkim]

post some menus so that you can get some feedback. It is possible that you aren't eating enough food or that you are eating too much of the wrong things.

On 6-10 carbs a day for that long, I'd be chewing my arm off.

[2big4mysize]

Re: HELP I have not lost a single pound since Jan. 1 What gi

:help

I think I am following ANA to the letter;.........
I have recently begun exercise (yeah I know...working on it); I am up to 6 glasses H2o daily (working on 8-10 but in my pre-atkins days it was 1/2 a glass!)

..........

What gives? I can not keep motivating myself if ANA is not going to work! ...

Her I got all excited you were doing Atkins to the letter and then you post that! You were not doing Atkoins at all you were doing your own low carb program that didn't work. Dr Atkins said in DANDR chapter 15 if youare not exercising you are not doing my plan so since you read the book you knew exercise was mandatory.

Water is a minimum in DANDR of 64 ounces a day too so again not doing DANDR.

If you need any motivation to drink your water checkout the FAQ topic on water and you will be chugging.

We have no idea if you are properly eating your Atkins since the rest of the stuff you have posted about doing Atkins has been wrong but if you are corrctly eating Atkins with some of your veggie carbs, proteins and fats at every meal in the correct ratio of fats to proteins to carbs, eating only enough food to satisfy your hunger and stopping even if their is still room in your belly or carbs in your budget, drinking all your water, taking the supplements you need based on your food choices, doing the mandatory daily exercise and you haven;t lost any inches nor scale weight then I'd read my DANDR chapter 20 and see my doc for some tests Dr Atkins recoimmends.

HAppy low carbing.

[MotherNature]

Teacher......It sounds a lot like you might be in starvation mode and your body is hanging on to every pound. At 6-10 carbs per day, I don't see how you can be eating the mandatory 2 cups of salad vegetables and 1 cup of other vegetables per day. Also you may not be getting enough fat. Unless you eat enough fat daily this diet will not work for you. I know it is hard to wrap your mind around the concept of eating fat after it has been drilled into us for so many years that it is bad, but for Atkins to work properly you need to eat 65% FAT, 30% protein, and 5% carbs each day. Believe me when I tell you that if you do Atkins properly and eat up to 20 carbs per day, you will lose weight. I've been there and it works. Also, you need to drink a minimum of 64 ounces per day plus 8 ounces for every 25 pounds you need to lose. If you do all the above things, you should see a drop in your weight. Good luck!

Cathy

To those of you who have already read this message, I had a really bad typo as I transposed the fat and protein percentages. I have corrected that error. I apologize to any newbies who I might have confused. Sorry!

[Ragtime Gal]

I still think that some people have to look at how much they are actually eating...even of legal foods. If one is a compulsive eater (and many overweight people are...not saying this is you), then you can easily be putting away two, one pound steaks for dinner and saying to yourself "Hey....I'm doing Atkins!"...but you're stuffing yourself and eating thousands of calories a day. Eating too many calories of anything will result in no weight loss!!

Sharon

P.S. Listen to what everyone is saying about fat. Fat fills you up so that you don't **want** to eat too much of everything else!!

[Teacher4Peace]

Thanks you guys. I have been trying to examine the things you mentioned. There were a couple of things that hit me:

1. by no exercise i mean that I only do 15 min per day--because I can honestly barely move; this is a big improvement. I am now TRYING to build to 30 (not Sat--never here). I know that is dreadful but attempting to fix ASAP.

2. Today I actually went from 6 to 8 H2O I replaced all my Crystal Light and D.Soda with H2O Helped me consume the water more easily but I am still not used to it. I know that I must do it. They say its actually good for the skin too! Added bonus!

3. Now here is a big problem--I do eat A LOT before I get full. NO not stuffed full! For example, we went to Ruby Tuesday for a family celebration and for dinner I had a 9 oz Ribeye Steak with steak butter, 1/2 steamed broc., and the hamburger patti off my brother's burger because he did not want it! Not to forget the wings--not breaded or with any sugars.

I may actually be a compulsive eater giving myself an excuse that I am following ANA! I have to monitor over the next few days.

4. I think I am getting plenty of fats (cook in oil and butter and use some mayo?????)

5. As for the supplements, here's what I am taking: basic three, fat converter, essential oils, dieter's advantage, accel.
Is that right? I bought them from Atkins.com based on the description. Do not have a real guide as to which I should actually use. What do you think?

6. As to 6-10 carbs, perhaps I misunderstood the book (I have read it a couple of times). I though he said you could have NO MORE that 20 g so less is okay? I get these carbs from lettuce (I have lots of Romain Lettuce) daily, if I eat eggs I count those, sometimes zucchini, green beans and broc. Occassionally tomatoes. The rest is the 0 carb foods like meats and chicken, fish, tuna, etc. I am never hungry so how can I be doing a starvation diet? Is this wrong?

7. Finally, I ought to mention that my doctor placed me on Zelnorm, Miralax and Colace--2 per day of each. She know I am on ANA and is happy with the weight I have lost so far but for me is painfully slow--at least since January.

8. I do try to measure (chest, hips, waist)--not too much gone from any of those areas but I am fitting into some of my clothes again!

I will be measuring and weighing on Saturday April 9, 2005. Then I will continue with good days like today ("getting it right"). I will weigh and measure again on 16th (one week from Sat.)

Will keep posted.

Thank you for all your advise--so nice to have someone who is actually NOT nagging me to quit "before I kill myself" but who is actually there for me telling me how to fix it!

Thank you to all you caring someones!

:hug Regards---SheShe---- ha!!!

[2big4mysize]

lookslike you are making some improvements. those veggies you mentioned are limited to 3 cups of the salad vegies or 2 cups of them and one cup of the other veggies from chapter 11 of your DANDR we have the lists up above for you to look at.

6. As to 6-10 carbs, perhaps I misunderstood the book (I have read it a couple of times). I though he said you could have NO MORE that 20 g so less is okay? I get these carbs from lettuce (I have lots of Romain Lettuce) daily, if I eat eggs I count those, sometimes zucchini, green beans and broc. Occassionally tomatoes. The rest is the 0 carb foods like meats and chicken, fish, tuna, etc. I am never hungry so how can I be doing a starvation diet? Is this wrong?

If you are not hungry you should not be wolfing down all that food at RT so it looks like you have hit the nail on the head you are overeating. Atkins is about using the food lists to create a weight loss plan for you were your cals in are less then your total cals burned as Dr Atkins mentioned in the Q and A of chapter 11 od your DANDR.

We do that by feeding our hunger not the space in our belly. When we are not hungryy we should according to Dr Atkins eat some carbs and some fat when the 6 hr limit approaches.
We do that by increasing our activitiy levels so we burn more cals a day. while you are having trouble getting in more then 15 min and building up you can do 2 sets of 15 min to help build your cardio and endurance up. You actaully get better total fat burning from split workouts as you have the exercise metabolic rate increase for 2 timesa day instead of just one post exerice. you can also get more exercise for free by taking the long way to get places on foot like the back of the parking lot marching in place while waiting and other easy to do things. Use your imagination you will be surprized at what you can do. I replaced my chair with a fitness ball and get lots of free core muscle excercise just balancing on the ball while I type.

You can add some fiber with flax meal wheat bran orpsyillium if you need some too. Do you have IBS or were you just constipated from your Atkins lack of fiber in your food choices?

Happy low carbing can't wait to see those yippeee I lost posts in a few days!

Happy low carbing.

[Teacher4Peace]

:wave Hello Again!

I read what 2big4mysize wote and have been implementing some of her ideas. But I do have a couple od questions:

If you are not hungry you should not be wolfing down all that food at RT so it looks like you have hit the nail on the head you are overeating. Atkins is about using the food lists to create a weight loss plan for you were your cals in are less then your total cals burned as Dr Atkins mentioned in the Q and A of chapter 11 od your DANDR.

I actually do not stuff but HONESTLY it takes a great amount of food for me to feel satisfied. When I try to actually cut back, I feel VERY hungry. Since ANA says to fill but not stuff, I have been trying to do so. Can you explain this to me?

Also, in answer to your question--IBS with constipation--VERY BAD case.

One more question:
Is it okay to cut out all the supplements and REPLACE them with "ONE A DAY Carb Smart"? That way it would only be one pill and would be very easy to take ? I have a real problem swollowing pills (especially these huge one!)

[2big4mysize]

talk with your doc about cutting back on thoise supplements I only take a vt, calcium (and potassium when I was in induction) bnecause that was all based on my blood work and meds my doc said I needed.

I think you are confusing me you wrote you are never hungry. So when you sit down to eat because you are near the 6 hr mark you should be eating as I said. Now you say you are hungryunless you eat a lot. we do not pre eat to avoid hunger and I think that may be what you are doing. when we are hungry we eat enough to satisfy the hunger and stop period. the fats in your food will cause the empting of your stomache to slow downas soon as they hit the connetion from the intestine to the stomach (see Dr Atkins did know what he was talking about for all the lurkers reading this) as it evokes that area of the intestine to set up a chemical reation to product the chemicals that do that in the blood stream.
Try taking Dr Atkins advice in DADNR about only eating 1/2 your normal portion and stopping and putting your plate in the frig for later. you can eat again as soon as you feel hungry but as I said earlier make sure it is hunger and not thirst first. We can eat 20 times a day if we are hungry 20 times a day on Atkins and that is what is so great about this plan. Hunger will vary from day to day and you must learn to distinguish hunger form thirst and from bordome and anything else it can be mistaken for. Those folk who have been overeating for yrs will take a while to learn their bodies as Dr Atkins said in DANDR.

As for your IBS many folk doing atkins OWL with all the fiber have discovered their symptoms get better on Atkins. I hope your will too.

Happy low carbing.